Cigar smoke doesn't hide
humor of Holbrook's Twain
— Page 4
Aggies' Crite, Gilbert giving
opposing teams headaches
— Page 15
The Battalion
/ol. 83 No. 85 USPS 075360 18 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, January 29, 1986
. pace shuttle mission proves disastrous
Challenger explodes 74 seconds offer liftoff
Associated Press
JPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A
■rophic explosion blew apart
)ace shuttle Challenger 74 seo
df .liter liftoff Tuesday, sending
icllteacher Christa McAuliffe and
NASA astronauts to a fiery death
Bsky eight miles out from Ken-
■Space Center.
■e mourn seven heroes,” said
tsident Reagan.
He accident defied quick expla-
Hi, though a slow-motion replay
Kd to show a flame or other ab-
Hality on one of two peel-away
Ike boosters followed by the deto-
i of the shuttle’s huge external
ank. The tank-turned-fireball
feiyed Challenger high above the
tic while crew' families and
officials watched in despair
kliheCape.
Other observers noted that the
Jers continued to fly crazily
gh the sky after the explosion.
King that the problem might
p|originated in the giant tank it-
I
■e will not speculate as to the
.“ciiic cause of the explosion based
tnat footage,” said Jesse Moore,
iSAs top shuttle administrator.
iti0nal Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration officials are organizing
an investigating board and Moore
said it w ill take a “careful review” of
all data “before we can reach any
conclusions.”
It was the first in-flight disaster in
56 manned space missions. John
Glenn, the former astronaut, re
called that three astronauts died in a
See page 7
• A&M seeking title
• Grief-stricken families
• Texas reacts to tragedy
• Ex-astronaut makes surmises
'ii .
launch-pad training accident 19
years ago and said the history of pi
oneers is often one “of triumph and
tragedy.”
The explosion followed an appar
ently flawless launch, delayed two
hours as officials analyzed the dan
ger from icicles that formed in the
frosty Florida morning along the
shuttle’s new launch pad.
“There were no signs of abnorma
lities on the screens” as flight con
trollers monitored Challenger’s lift
off and ascent, a source said. The
source, at the Johnson Space Center
in Houston, said the blast occurred
“unexpectedly and with absolutely
no warning.”
NASA said its computers showed
that all communications with the
shuttle broke off 74 seconds after
launch, marking that as the moment
of the explosion.
Mission Control reported that
there had been no indication of any
problem with the three shuttle en
gines, its twin solid boosters or any
other system and that the shuttle just
suddenly blew apart 10 miles high
and 8 miles downrange of Cape Ca
naveral. Ninety minutes after the ac
cident, controllers were still at their
consoles, solemnly examining flight
data.
Flags at Cape Canaveral were low
ered to half-staff. The countdown
clock that marks the progress of the
mission continued for hours.
Reagan, in an Oval Office address
after he postponed his State of the
Union message because of the tra
gedy, reaffirmed his commitment to
the shuttle program and said, “The
future doesn’t belong to the faint
hearted, it belongs to the brave.”
“We will continue our quest in
space,” he said. “There will be more
See Shuttle, page 18
Photo courtesy of KTBX-TV
This is a picture of Challenger’s explosion taken from a television monitor.
feagan gives praise
LrO shuttle astronauts
J
0
Associated Press
■ASHINGTON — President
Igaii. stunned by America’s first
flitflu space disaster, abruptly
itponed his State of the Union ad-
ps Tuesday to praise the lost
■lenger astronauts as heroes and
wkhe nation’s manned space flight
I Brain will continue.
ie future doesn’t belong to the
leaned,” the president said. “It
gs to the brave.”
a nationally broadcast address
lan an hour after NASA offi-
gave up hope that teacher
ta McAulif fe and the Challeng-
xother crew members survived
xplosion that destroyed their
craft, Reagan pledged never to
tthem and promised their mis-
>n would not be America’s last.
■d planned to speak to you to-
ght to report on the state of the
■n," Reagan said in a five-minute
ibjite from the Oval Of fice.
Bm he explained he was putting
■he speech for a week because
Bay is a day for mourning and re
fill bering.”
i’ve always had great faith in and
ct for our space program,”
an said, “and what happened
y does nothing to diminish it.”
agan said, “There will be more
luttle flights and more shuttle
crews and yes, more volunteers,
more civilians, more teachers in
space.”
The Challenger Seven, Reagan
said, “were daring and brave, and
they bad that special grace, that spe
cial spirit that says, ‘Give me a chal
lenge, and I’ll meet it with joy.’”
Calling the disaster “a truly na
tional loss,” Reagan extended his
sympathy not just to the grieving
families but to the thousands of em
ployees of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration on the
ground, paying tribute to their de
cades of dedication and profession
alism.
“We know of your anguish,” he
said. “We share it.”
To school children across the
country who paid special attention to
this flight because a teacher was
aboard and planned to lecture about
the mission, the president said: “I
know it’s hard to understand, but
sometimes painful things like this
happen.
“It’s all part of the process of explo
ration and discovery. It’s all part of
taking ai chance and expanding
man’s horizons.
“The Challenger crew was pulling
us into the future,” Reagan said,
“and we’ll continue to follow.”
Scobee requested items
Shuttle carried Aggie cargo
Flags flew at half-staff because
of the tragedy.
By CHRIS SIGURDSON
Reporter
At space shuttle Commander Dick
Scobee’s request, administrators at
Texas A&M’s College of Education
arranged for a casting of a medallion
and a floppy disk filled with the
hopes and best wishes of dozens of
Aggies to be a small part of the cargo
on the ill-fated flight of the space
shuttle Challenger, said Dr. Dean C.
Corrigan, dean of the college.
It was the second time Scobee, a
member of the college’s devel
opment council, had taken some
thing from A&M aboard a space
shuttle.
Another medallion and a NASA
certificate of authenticity from an
April, 1984 Challenger flight hang
on the wall of the college’s office
alongside other shuttle souvenirs.
Scobee’s ties to the University and
the College of Education go back to
1980 when his wife, June, began
working toward a doctorate in edu
cational curriculum.
She completed her degree in 1983
arid works as a consultant to A&M’s
Gifted and Talented Institute for
outstanding young high school stu
dents, said family friend Dr. William
R. Nash, director of the institute and
her academic co-adviser.
Scobee was active in the institute
himself, Nash said, as a guest
speaker and judge for some of the
aerospace contests.
Nash had been at the launch site
in Florida since Jan. 21, the day be
fore the shuttle’s original launch
date, at NASA’s invitation, he said,
but had had to leave Saturday.
Corrigan said Scobee joined the
college’s development council in
1983.
As a member, Scobee helped to
foster and fund new programs in the
college, particularily those involving
math and science, Corrigan said.
The casting Scobee took on the
flight commemorates the college’s
Math/Science Teaching Scholar
Loan Program, an incentive system
that will cancel one year of the loan
for each year the student teaches in a
high school or junior high, said Sha
ron Brooks, counselor for the pro
gram.
The computer disk he took was
compiled by past and present stu
dents in the program, she said, and
is filled with color pictures, a brief
description of the shuttle’s intended
mission, the thoughts and aspi
rations of the students and a com
puter-sung performance of the “Ag
gie War Hymn.”
Lana Hill, a program recipient
who plans to teach mathematics and
computer science, said she thought
the A&M cargo would be helpful
and stimulating when she began tea
ching.
“It wasn’t just another shuttle
flight,” she said. “I felt that I was
contributing something. The disk
would personalize my field. It
wouldn’t be just a computer and a
terminal.”
Hill’s contribution to the disk was
a poem she wrote in defense of tea
ching.
Corrigan and Nash both said Sco
bee’s contributions of time, energy
and space expertise were invaluable
to their respective programs.
They both expressed concern for
Scobee’s wife and described Scobee
as a man committed to young people
and education.
“He lived on the edge,” Nash said.
“He was a fighter pilot in Vietnam,
he was hard-nosed, he had a logical
mind. But he was really good with
young people.”
The Challenger flight was in
tended to honor education and edu
cators across the nation and in
cluded schoolteacher Christa
McAuliffe.
apcm in love with English words
Associated Press
fTOKYO — A young Japanese
3le stroll down chic Omote
jlo Boulevard, their matching
lets bearing the words: “Fancy
Kile.” On the platform at Shin-
w station, a young man in a punk
To sports a coat with bold, sty-
Tettering: “ANTHRAX.”
Ike most other Japanese who
B English slogans on shirts, jack-
sjhats, even underwear, they said
fey didn’t know what the words
■apanese Ingurisshu” (English),
lie form is widely called, adorns
ljust dothing but pencil cases,
fe>()ping bags, stationery and many
lr items — and much of it is in-
lect, absurd or unintentionally
Itene.
■Absolutely weird,” is how“Japa-
I copywriters very conscien-
Tsly and adroitly use English as
inese,” Kim Schuefftan, an edi-
tvith Kodansha International, a
Jjisher of English-language books
ijapan, describes it. Schuefftan is
Jpiling examples of “Japanese
prisshu” in advertising and fash-
lapanese copywriters very con-
“It doesn’t matter what’s
written on them. It’s not
English, it’s art, and if the
colors and shapes are nice,
it will sell. ”
— Takashi Murakami,
Zen Mall’s manager.
scientiously and adroitly use English
as Japanese,” he said in an interview.
“The words have no meaning but
connote something.”
The English word “my,” in fact, is
widely used to convey a sense of inti
macy between owner and object,
such as “my home” and “my car.”
“Let’s” and “Do” are also favor
ites, especially in connection with ac
tion. “Do Sports” is a popular ath
letic club, and many foreigners recall
the enigmatic T-shirt: “Let’s Sports
Violent All Day Long.” Instructions
for Mercotin tablets once read:
“Adults: 1 tablet 3 times a day until
passing away.”
Among the scores of tiny clothing
shops in Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku
area is Zen Mall, where customers
can choose designs such as “Just Fit
to You. King Kong,” or “Do not d ; ^
turb please. SCRAP!”
Takashi Murakami, Zen Mall’s
manager, said, “It doesn’t matter
what’s written on them. It’s not En
glish, it’s art, and if the colors and
shapes are nice, it will sell. Nobody
“Japanese copywriters
very . . .adroitly use En
glish as Japanese.”
— Kim Schuefftan, editor
of Kodansha Interna
tional.
ever asks us what they mean. We
don’t even know ourselves!”
Some food names may sound at
tractive to Japanese but revolting to
a native speaker of English, such as
“Creap” coffee creamer and “Calpis”
fermented milk drink. Supermar
kets sell candy named “Bourbon
Pickle,” “Chocolate Sand Cookies,”
“Glico Pocky” and “Choco Pretch.”
Resident foreigners regularly
note down and swap slogans, espe
cially four-letter words and other
obscenities that constantly turn up
on T-shirts and shopping bags. Em
barrassing double entendres some
times go undetected, said Schuef
ftan, who has lived here for 22 years.
Visitors encounter the bizarre En
glish from the morrient they arrive in
Japan. A sign at the Skyliner express
train station at Tokyo’s international
airport advises: “If you w'ant to take
non-smoking car, please offer to sell
ticketer.”
In Kyoto, a hotel warns non-Japa
nese guests that “Depositing the
room key into other person is pro
hibited.” Another, in Kobe, says
“Guests are requested to hand over
their car-key to cartaker.”
The absence in the Japanese lan
guage of “L” and “V” sounds adds to
confusion. Tourists can visit what
one map calls the “Nara Prefectural
Fork (folk) Museum.”
124 recommended
for chancellorship
By MARY ANN HARVEY
Staff Writer
The Texas A&M chancellor
search committee on Tuesday re
leased the names of 124 people
who are being considered for the
job of chancellor of the Texas
A&M University System.
The chancellor position will be
vacated by Dr. Arthur G. Hansen
this summer.
Regent William A. McKenzie,
chairman of the search commit
tee that will advise the board on a
replacement for Hansen, said the
nominated people are not nec
essarily applicants.
“In no instance do I intention
ally mean that they have applied
for the job,” McKenzie said.
“They have been recommended
by the faculty, deans, administra
tors and regents.”
Some of the names included on
the list were Jeane Kirkpatrick,
former ambassador to the United
Nations; John F. Lehman, secre
tary of the U.S. Navy; Robert
Krueger, former ambassador to
Mexico; Bruce Babbitt, governor
of Arizona; and Adm. Bobby In
man, president of Microelectron
ics and Computer Technology
Corp. in Austin.
i Several names were recom
mended from within the A&M
System, including A&M Presi
dent Frank E. Vandiver; Dr.
Perry L. Adkisson, deputy chan
cellor of the University System;
Dr. Herbert Richardson, vice
chancellor for engineering; Dr.
Duwayne Anderson, associate
provost for research; Dr. Eddie J.
Davis, vice president for fiscal af
fairs; and Dr. Percy A. Pierre,
Prairie View' A&M University
president.
Also included from the Uni
versity were Dr. Neville P. Clarke,
director of the Texas Agricultu
ral Experiment Station; Dr. John
E. Flipse, associate vice chancellor
for engineering; Dr. Robert
Stone, dean of the College of
Medicine; and Dr. Robert L.
See Nominee’s, page 18